A Prescription for Smiles
by KIEROx
Summary: Aiden Mills is a master of the odd jobs. She can mow your lawn, tidy up the house, tutor your children, spy on the neighbors for you, &babysit. When she was hired to look after Tony Thompson, she never expected to get into so much trouble..  OCxGregory
1. Chapter 1 : Oldie Blues

"_**Tell me. What's your name?"**__  
"Wey, that ain't important now. I've taken care of gairn since I 'twas 'bout twelve years, I must say. Trust me, I ain't no glaiky! I don't do em tabs either like the blokes and lasses who are close to muh' age."  
__**"… wha-what?"**__  
"Oh, thas right… I forgot that ye aren't my kind'a folk. Divint hesitate to ask what I'm saying to ya. My accent's a bit hacky for the foreigners to understand."  
__**"I… have no idea what you just said."**__  
"Haha! Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I just wanted to see if you'd understand me or not. Anyway, my name is Aiden Mills…"  
_

"Hey, Tony, what else do you do around here?" Aiden asked him skeptically after stashing away his father's stack of c.d.'s that were labeled 'OLDIES' with an original black permanent sharpie. The little blond bloke shrugged and wiped the spaghetti sauce off his cheek with the sleeve of his blue sweater, then resumed eating his dinner with his feet swinging back and forth under the table.

"I have friends coming over in a while," Tony said with a mouthful of meatball.  
Aiden blinked blankly, and said slowly, "Well, sure, but…"  
"Pleaaaase?" He pleaded innocently, his eyes closed and his front teeth stuck with rosemary.

The door bell rang before she could say anything else.

"Too late to say no!" Tony's eyes lit up, and he tossed the plate in the kitchen sink with no further ado. He ran toward the door, wiping the rest of his dirty mouth with the opposite sleeve.

"Ah-" Aiden froze in her awkward stance. She was squatting, her butt hovering a few inches off the couch.

"Come in!" Tony smiled, opening the door and motioning his hands to welcome the newcomers.

"Mom, do I have to—"  
"Shush, Gregory…"

"Ah well, I can't stop him even if I wanted to," Aiden smiled, shaking her head, "The kid's too cute."

She plopped back onto the couch; legs outstretched across all three of the cushioned seats and closed her eyes. She was tired from all the studying the night before. Today was a dreaded math exam that would decide whether or not the administrators would keep her in her prestigious private school. Aiden was never the best at studying, but she tried. And hey, it doesn't hurt to cross your fingers every now and then.

Aiden opened her eyes, and gasped, clutching onto the pillow for her dear life.

"My name is Rudolph,"

A little boy stood in front of her, his skin was ghastly white… Almost icy-blue. He looked older than Tony about two years. Rudolph's hair looked like it was blown all over the place by the wind, and then shot up by lightning. His clothes were a bit dusty and old fashioned. Maybe they were new hand-me-downs?

"Oh, ah, hey there," The edges of Aiden's mouth tugged upward into an uncomfortable smile, "Aiden."

She looked down, seeing that he held a leash in his right hand. Oh crud, did they bring a dog in? Hopefully, it wouldn't leave any dirt in the house. Her eyes traced the origins of the leash, and ended up looking back at the couch. Whatever was at the end of the rope was behind the couch.  
Aiden stood on her knees, looming her head over the cushion head of the chair, expecting to see a dog.

"What are _you_ looking at?"

Even worse.  
She found a teenager in a foul mood.

He was crouched down on the floor, lazing around like it was his house that he owned. Aiden smacked herself mentally. Better prepare another frozen meal for the guests.  
The boy looked scary. And when she thought Rudolph looked beat up, this guy looked like he escaped a mental facility. To top it all off, he had a muzzle.

And it was so weird, seeing that Tony and Rudolph found this all to be very… casual.

I guess all people do this to their kids around in this area, Aiden thought. Blimey, they've got really different customs than the west side.

"This is Gregory," Rudolph beamed proudly, as if he were introducing her to his award winning golden retriever. His blue lips glistened under the light. What an unusual skin tone, "He's my older brother."

"Come on, Rudolph!" Tony shouted at him at the base of the stairway, "I've got something to show you!"  
"Could you take care of him, please, Miss Aiden?" Rudolph's eyes darted excitedly from Tony to Aiden, "Thank you!"

He shoved the leather leash into Aiden's hands and disappeared with the blink of an eye.  
Aiden stared awkwardly at the belt in her hand and then at Gregory. He growled at her.

"If I take off that muzzle, will you bite me?" She asked quietly, crouching down to him at eye-level.

It took him a full minute to come up with a reply. She felt him analyzing the structure of her face, neck, and hands.

Finally, he shrugged, "I can't make any promises."


	2. Chapter 2 : Keep On

"The oxidation of glucose in body tissue produces CO2 and H2O so in contrast, anaerobic decomposition, which occurs during fermentation, produces ethanol and CO2. Using data given in Appendix C—"

"Shut up!" Gregory groaned, holding his miserable head up tiredly. His fingerless gloves were tearing from the stretching and scratching. Aiden could see that bits of his hair were beginning to fall off, and there were strands of black scattered throughout the carpet.

Aiden smiled quietly and closed her chemistry book. Many people loved chemistry, but the people who don't, hate it with the depths of their hearts. She tilted her head to the side and sang, "Are you still going to bite me?"

Gregory glared at her, desperately attempting to pull off the muzzle from his mouth forcefully. No matter what he tried, he ended up hurting himself more and more.

"If I could, I would," He hissed.  
"Look, Gregory!" Aiden grinned, pulling out a small textbook from her bag, "Physics!"

Physics was the universe's greatest science phobia. There's nothing out there longer than the complex answers to "why does a rocket go up?" Aiden bit her lip, raising her eyebrows in an upward motion. She wanted to make him suffer… (_This_ is why she makes 20 bucks an hour!)

His reaction was different, and a bit disappointing. She expected him to cower in a corner and wail, "Please Aiden, don't! Don't! I'll behave!"

However, he looked at her quizzically, his eyebrows moving in towards the middle.

"Physics," Gregory repeated, registering the word in his mind, "What's physics?"

The smile hung on her face like a door hanging loosely with one side of the hinge. Where… Where has he been?— Under a rock, maybe. Then again, maybe they've never heard of physics in this side of town. He _does_ have a muzzle on after all.  
Aiden studied his features. Dark jacket, insane hair, chains on skin tight pants, fingerless gloves…

Yup. He's a delinquent.

He probably skips out on so many classes to take his motorcycle out for a joyride, Aiden's imagination ran wild, _that's_ why he misses out on everything in school. Yes! It all makes perfect sense!

She suddenly felt bad for him. How could someone miss out on education? Learning is and _should_ be everyone's number one priority! 

"Physics…" Aiden smiled. The door was back on its hinges.

She read from her little textbook, and cleared her throat, "Imagine an airplane flying high up in the sky. You look down and see familiar places—you are approaching your friend's house. You think it wouldn't be a bad idea to send him a message. You quickly jot down a few word on your writing-pad, tear out the sheet of paper, wrap it around some heavy object—which for convenience's sake we shall henceforth call "weight"—and drop it as soon as your friend's house is right underneath."

"That sounds reasonable," Gregory snorted, rolling his eyes, "Of course it would drop right underneath. Physics doesn't sound hard at all. It's just boring common sense-"

"If you think it will fall into your friend's front garden, you're making a terrible mistake," She continued reading from the book, looking up at him.

"Well, where does it fall then?" Gregory asked, "If not in his garden, then maybe in the bird-bath then?"

"You'll miss it as sure as eggs is eggs even though your friend's house is right below."

"… Impossible!"

"If you watched the weight as it fell, you would see a strange thing. While falling, the weight at the same time will continue to travel along beneath the plane, as if tied to it by an invisible piece of thread. And as it falls on the ground it will be off the target by a long shot."

"This is again a manifestation of that selfsame law or inertia," She read, "Which prevents us from travelling in Bergerac's way. While the weight was in the plane it was moving together with it. But when dropped and having separated from the plane, it does not lose its initial speed. As it falls it continues to move in the air in the same direction as the plane…"

"That's… fascinating. Really..."

Aiden looked up at him and smiled, propping her chin up with her arm. How weird. Usually, more people have an interest in chemistry, not mind-blowing physics. This guy was different.

"But is it true?" He said slowly, trying to absorb the information in.

"What do you mean is it true?" Aiden rose a brow, "It's physics. It's science. It's been proven."

"Mortals can be proven wrong, you know," Gregory sneered, cackling, "Don't say it like it's been set in stone. Nothing but death is."


	3. Chapter 3 : Breathe

Gregory Sackville-bagg lied on his stomach atop of the plush rug. He was immensely sucked into the textbook, 'Physics for Entertainment'. Although Aiden had never cracked a smile while reading Yakov Perelman's work, Gregory would burst out into a baffled chuckle every now and then. They were reading in the family den. The temperature was dropping lower and lower, but bounced up once again after they managed to light up the fireplace.

They were surrounded by white noise. The crackling of the wood, the hurling of the tamed fire, and the laughter of children upstairs mellowed the once-intense atmosphere.

"Aiden, why is it that a flame never extinguishes itself?" Gregory kept asking questions every few pages or so to see if there was anything she didn't already know.

"Gases expand when heated, so it becomes lighter," Aiden answered him without looking up from her SAT preparation textbook, "Heat rises. If there was so such thing as gravity, we wouldn't have a flame that would last very long."

Gregory's eye twitched, "Why do you know so much, mortal?"

She never did understand why he addressed her as that, but shrugged it off. Maybe he has a different dialect. Either way, she accepted people as they are. You can't change them forcibly to your own standards.

"I want to study in America," She replied simply, turning the page. Oh poo, the math section.

"America?" Gregory smirked, "There's nothing special there."

"You're probably right, but you know, you never know," Aiden closed the book, and her eyelids drooped, "I want to be a doctor. It's a long way, but I do."

"Why?" He asked with no interest. He was too busy flipping through the pages to find something worthy enough to be read. Soon, he paused to read a section entitled, 'Can an Invisible Man See?'

"I just do," Aiden laughed, and slid off from the couch, landing next to Gregory. He ignored her, too warped up in his reading. She studied him, noticing the dirt on his face and the cobwebs forming on his coat-shoulder.

"Why aren't you in school?" She asked curiously, slowly pulling the book away from him to capture his attention.

"I'm home schooled," Gregory said plainly. He obviously did not want to be having this conversation as he reached out to get the book back. 

"Do you learn plenty?" Aiden persisted, slapping on a fake grin, grabbing the book with an iron grip.

"I learn _enough_," There was a glint in Gregory's eyes. Usually, it's a sign of a person with good morals, but this one meant something mischievous. He tugged at the hardcover.

"Enough to get into a good university?" She didn't back down and hauled it closer to her chest. Gregory's arm fell forward, but he stayed put like a pair of sixty pound dumbbells.

"Enough to stay alive," Gregory flashed his impatient smile. Aiden could tell he was holding back another growl. Good god, this guy was a wild child.

"But street smarts can't get you into a college!" Aiden raised her voice, now latching both hands on each side of the volume. She heaved with all her might, but it never budged from Gregory's palm.

Gregory quite simply, liberated "Physics for Entertainment" from Aiden's tight fists with a pull. He managed to drag the book away, making Aiden fall forward onto his lap. He dangled it in front of her face, but away from her reach. And laughed.

"That doesn't mean I won't be successful," He smiled slyly at her. Yet somehow, there was kindness shining in his eyes this time. She looked at him in awe. Through the holes of the muzzle, he looked… Quite handsome. The bottom half of his face seemed like it was wrapped with barbed wire— those parts were off limits. You could see, but you can't touch. Even if it was at just this angle, she felt her stomach churning and the icy feeling rubbing against her shoulders and massaging her spine.

Gregory took notice of this. And his smile faded. His lips parted a bit, and he gazed downward at her. His hazy eyes casted a trance upon her. Beneath the awful dirt, he had beautiful features.  
Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napleon Bonabarte glazed across the frantic thoughts in her head. That soft expression… Those mesmerizing eyes.

"I need to go," Gregory startled her. He had said it so abruptly. Carefully, he removed Aiden off of him and set her aside gently. Their gazes were still interlocked, and they were inhaling deeply now, as if they had just finished a three kilometer run.

He turned to get up, and extended his arm backward out so that Aiden could take the book back. This was done without even facing at her.

"It's alright. Keep it."


	4. Chapter 4 : Wide Awake

I would like to thank you those of you who have supported me. I'm very grateful! ^^  
You guys put me in such a great mood when I look over the reviews.  
I've been feeling great lately, so I present to you a long chapter.

It's currently raining. I felt so warm, typing this up.  
There's a Christmas-y feeling this October.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. Aiden stirred. Her eyes tried to weigh themselves down to shut her vision off, but her strong endurance overcame it. She yawned, stretching out her right arm as she did so and made a face. Ew, the taste of your own mouth after a nap.

"In a minute!" Aiden called out to the unknown visitor. She poked at the firewood, turning it around and glanced at the clock ticking above her. Ten thirty at night. Her nap was only thirty minutes long. Tony's friends left about an hour ago, and he was safely tucked away in bed. Or, so she thought.

"Aiden! Open up! It's me!"

What the heck. Was that… _Tony's_ voice? Aiden took a fleeting look behind her shoulder at the door, and flung herself to the handle.

"TONY!" She yelled, thrusting the door wide open. She might as well have flipped over the rocks of Stonehenge. There he was, looking up oh so innocently at her with the little bloke Rudolph leaning against his shoulder. He looked terribly ill.

"Wha—How did you get out?" Aiden babbled on, tripping over her own words like there was a road bump at the beginning of every letter. How foolish she must have sounded. But who could blame her? She had a spotless baby sitting record. This could ruin her business; a little bloke managed to slip out without her knowing.

"That doesn't matter!" He stomped his right foot. Cute, but now's not the time, "Rudolph and his family needs help!"

"I-I'll call the—" Aiden turned her torso around, ready to sprint for the phone to dial the emergency numbers until another voice cut her off.

"Don't!" A heavenly voice drew her inward. Like a puppet, she felt compelled to move to the center stage, out to the front door again. She looked around the front yard for the owner of the calling, but found nobody in the night's amidst. Crickets chirped. It was a cloudy sky, but the calming moonlight poked through the pressure.

Suddenly, she detected movement behind the family car. A pale faced woman. She approached Aiden, her garment swayed with the breeze gracefully behind her. The bird was walking on air. Mystery lady raised her arm slowly, seductively, and looked rather perplexed.

"Tony dearest, who is this?" The woman finally arrived at the front door steps, smiling faintly at her. Her head slightly rocked dramatically while her wonderful eyes sparkled as she spoke. This was a woman of virtue.

"I-I…" Someone must have punctured Aiden's voice box. She couldn't speak. Astounded by this lady's beauty, she could have almost collapsed on the ground and beg for skin care tips, "I'm gobsmacked…"

"Excuse me?" She rocked her head to the side again, in that dramatic motion but still smiled. She let out a chuckle, "I apologize for not introducing myself. My name is Freda Sackville-Bagg."

"Aiden… Mills, m'lady," Aiden stumbled on one leg, failing to do a curtsy. She couldn't take her eyes off her.

"Aiden! Please!" Tony kicked the ground with his one leg again impatiently, "You have to drive us to the nearest farm!"

"Wait. What for?" She shook her head, trying to shake it off. Note to self: Do not let eyes wander.

"I'll explain later!" The lad persisted, tugging on her sleeve away from the house, "But you have to promise not to tell my parents! Please! We have to help Rudolph's family."

Aiden retracted her arm from him, and said sternly, "Tony, this isn't right. If their family needs help, they have to get to a professional. They have to get to a hospital."

"The-they can't,"  
"Why not?"  
"Just... trust me!"

"Oh dear Rudolph!" Freda cried, cradling her son's head on the ground. He had collapsed. From exhaust maybe? Aiden felt a twinge in the left side of her head, and she rushed back into the house, slamming the door.

Freda and Tony glanced at each other worriedly. How would they get to a farm now? They couldn't possibly walk there. No, not in these conditions…

Suddenly, the door burst opened. Aiden was dressed in a thick, black buttoned up coat. A warm hand-knitted striped scarf hugged her neck tightly, the arms flying behind her as she paced quickly to the family SUV. The ear flaps of her grandma-patterned ski torque fluttered up and down, as the drooping pom-poms thumped against her chest.

"Let's go!" She yelled, signaling them over. A cold breath escaped her lips as she talked. How could they stand the chill like this? They must be built of iron… Iron man!... The guitar riff of Black Sabbath's Iron Man played in her head.

She paused the mental mp3 file and quickly opened all the doors for them to hop in.

"Frederick! Anna! Gregory!" Freda shouted over her shoulder. Was this woman a celebrity? A member of royalty maybe? She was utterly drop dead gorgeous. Aiden rubbed her gloved hands together, and blew into them, attempting to warm her palms with her breath. It was going to be a long night.

Anna, presumably their sister, was in ragged clothing. Her hair was tattered, but even so, she looked like a doll. Like her mother, she had a beautiful complexion. Gregory stumbled out of the bushes. He looked beaten up and worn out. Though, his condition was nothing compared to his father's. Gregory was helping him get to the car. His father's legs were being dragged across the grass. His shoes lined a mark in the dirt, like swooping a stick in the sand at the beach. They eventually boarded the car.

Tony was the last to climb in. He ran toward the markings Frederick left to dust the evidence away. Once he checked to make sure there were none left, he darted to the passenger's seat.

* * *

Aiden and Tony stared at the Sackville-Baggs with great interest. Their mouths were gaping wide open as they witnessed them feasting upon the live cows. She flinched each time her ears picked up the frequency of the slurps and the sucking.

"Wh-what are they?" Aiden whispered fearfully, clutching onto Tony's shoulder. He felt her hand shake.

"They're… vampires," He said simply. He looked up at her, smiling. However, it faded when he saw her hand clasp over her mouth with disgust. Her eyes were bulging, horrified.

"Quite adequate," Freda stood upright, her fangs poking out from the corners of her mouth as she beamed a satisfied smile. The moonlight captured her essence in her astounding eyes… and the blood on the lower half of her face.

Aiden quivered horrendously. Her legs began to shake.

"How… Could you…" She managed to speak, but she still stuttered, grabbing Tony closer to her.

Freda looked at her sympathetically. The twinkle in her eyes disappeared. They were dark, with pity. Her pretty face tilted to the side as she sighed.

"Dear, I thank you…" She stepped forward, her bloody fingers reaching out to her, "I know you're in shock…"

"St-stand back!" Aiden yelled, seizing the broom lying conveniently on the hay covered ground.  
"Mother?" Anna appeared from behind the cows, her old dress drenched with the blood of the cows. She too, had blood dripping from her chin.

"What are you doing?" Tony squeaked. Aiden was restraining him, "They're my friends!"

"They could hurt us!" Aiden wailed desperately, frantically looking around the barn for a stake or a weapon sturdier than a broom, "Stay back! Or I'll hurt you!"

Anna tugged on her mother's sleeve, hiding her face behind her arm worriedly.  
"Mother, will she?"  
Freda cooed, patting her arm gently, "She wouldn't dear…. She wouldn't…"

"I-I would!" She yelled in outrage, "I'm on the badminton team! They make us run twenty kilometers for conditioning every day!"

Freda stared at her quizzically as Gregory and Rudolph helped her husband get up on his two feet. There was steam rising from his coat, and bruises on his arms. The stench of burnt hair wisped around her senses. The hair on Aiden's neck pointed outward.

At this moment, Tony broke free from her grasps. The broom in her hand collapsed to the ground as she retracted with revelation. He ran toward Mr. Sackville-Bagg, checking his status.

"I'm fine," He said, coughing, but then began breathing in sharp gasps. His wife held his arm with sincerity. Anna and Rudolph looked up at him sadly. Gregory turned to the side, biting his lip.

Little Tony shot Aiden a look. She crumbled with guilt, regretting the things she had said. Nobody had said anything as Mr. Sackville-Bagg coughed harshly.

"I'll… wait in the car," Aiden said slowly. She couldn't take it anymore. Picking up the broom and setting it against the wall next to the pitchfork, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and silently took her leave.


	5. Chapter 5 : Aerodynamic

Aiden's forehead was kissing the steering wheel. She slouched hopelessly, staring at the darkness occupying the leg space. The radio was on some random channel. She hated the fizzy noises, but she couldn't stand the dead silence in the car either. Just to be sure, she locked the doors. Even if the only company she ever had were Tony and… them.

She sighed, as the music in the background droned on.

What a day. It was worse enough that she was embarrassed in front of Jason McDowell in school. (JASON MCDOWELL FOR GOD'S SAKE!)

Stressed out and dizzy, she removed her glasses to rub her eyes.  
At this rate… How the hell was she ever going to stay in that private school?

_"You push me away for the last time… _

_I can see this will be just another landslide…"  
_

Aiden groaned, ramming her forehead against the wheel again, sounding the horn. What sappy lyrics. Without looking up, she turned the knob and flew past the radio stations, blindly selecting another radio station to kill the quiet.

_"Juh juh juh jaded!  
You got cho' mama's style!  
So you're yesterday's child to me…"  
_

She immediately let go of the tuner and smiled. Classic American music, she loved this. Who was it by though? She couldn't exactly put her finger on it… But it began with an 'A'. Ohh, what was it?

.. AC/DC? No, it didn't sound like them.

_"Mahh mahh bay-bay, blue!  
Yeah I've been thinking about cha, baby blue!"_

Aiden jumped. There was a tap on the window that ruined the mood. She looked at the side windows… Nobody. What? Where did the—

She flinched. Gregory was sprawled across the hood of the car like a _very _ungraceful model. His face looked like as if it had been smashed against the glass; his cheeks had covered a large portion of the window.

"HOW DO YOU OPEN THIS?"

He seemed to say, but without audio. The glass was too thick.

For a family of vampires, Aiden thought as she snickered to herself as she clicked the doors unlocked, they were a funny bunch.

Not bad, not bad.

* * *

"Aerosmith!" Aiden yelped. Someone had kicked the back of her seat in class and woke her up from her mid afternoon dozing.

The teacher whirled around, her deadly eyes shooting a bullet through her head, knocking her out again. She whipped around once more to her original state, angrily jotting down another problem from the physics book. The beads that were cascading around her neck like a coiled snake jingled dangerously— a warning hiss from the carnivorous predator.

"Nice going, Mills," Someone from the other side of the classroom chuckled. It filled her up with doubt.

Aiden smiled nervously, and managed to get out an awkward choked, "Yeah, thanks…"

Talk about a bad luck streak. She sighed heavily, holding her head up tiredly and wrote down the words from the board. From the corner of her eye, she detected a black blur swooping by the window. How do they fly so fast?

She looked up and checked the time.  
It was nearly six. Guess time flies faster.

This extra physics class she took ended so late…

"Aiden," The teacher called out.

"Aerosmith!" She yelped out again in surprise. Her hands immediately clasped over her mouth, horrified. Oh god, what was wrong with her? Quickly, she removed her glasses. She didn't look as much of a nerd as she did with them on, and hopefully, her laughing classmates would think the same.

"Quiet!" The teacher demanded, smacking a ruler against her desk.  
Dead silence.

Her cold gaze was interlocked with Aiden's. Although her teacher was just a blur to her, she could feel the intense hate going on.

"Aiden Mills," She said, "Tell me why you don't have your physics book with you."

"I—"

The bell rang. Instantly, all sixty students sprinted toward the door. Aiden was among one of them, hoping to escape the deathly eyes of the tiger. She was free from the cage at last— alive and still in one piece!

Suddenly, someone shoved her against one of the lockers. The cold plastic of the tiers rammed against her side, and the padlocks bumped against her ribs. She pushed back, hoping to get out before she could get constantly crammed against the lockers again. She heard other crashes behind and in front of the large crowd of sixty.

Geez, it was bad enough that she got hurt like this once, but at least she wasn't pressed against it _repetitively_. Thank goodness she removed her glasses. They could have been cracked when she was kissing the lockers.

When she finally reached the exit, the whiff of cold winter air nearly gagged her. It was so icy sharp that it almost cut her throat when she inhaled for that fresh oxygen.

"Damn, it got dark!" Someone exclaimed as they stepped outside. A mass of murmurs exploded.

"Thank god I have a ride," A bloke walking past Aiden with his girlfriend smiled in relief.

Aiden shuffled uncomfortably and breathed in another heavy dose of atmosphere. Nobody was picking her up tonight. Her parents lived far, far away from the school. She didn't particularly enjoy walking home alone either.

"Aiden!" A voice yelled out. She shrugged it off and approached a deserted bench. There were plenty of Aiden's in the school, and chances are, nobody wanted to call her. She learned that the hard way the first day, and ever since, she never turned to answer them. They weren't meant for her anyway.

"Aiden!" That persistent yell sounded off again.

Aiden huffed, exhaling into her hands, "It's so cold tonight."

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and jumped, thinking it was an axe murderer like the ones she's seen on Law & Order.

"Aerosmith!" yelled Aiden, shielding her face with her arms, blocking out the view of the man. Why did she keep saying that? It didn't have the same effect as screaming 'the Christ compels you!' at a vampire. Or at least, she didn't think it did.

"Aiden," It was Gregory, again— in the same muzzle, in the same tattered clothing. He looked like he just got out of a coffin buried six feet underground.

"O-Oh. Gregory," She quickly shot up and dusted herself off, hoping to make herself look presentable and not… dorky.

"What's Aerosmith?" He asked. Where did he get this straight-forward attitude from?

"They're American people," Aiden said, looking around frantically as her classmates brushed pass them, giggling at her outburst. She'd rather have no reputation at all than a bad one.

"Oh,"

"Gregory, why are you here?"  
"To walk you home," He said simply.  
"Oh,"  
"You… wouldn't want that?" Gregory frowned beneath his muzzle, taking time off to glare at everyone who passed by.  
"It's not that I don't," Aiden said, "It's just that I don't want trouble.. And I'm sorry, by the way."  
"It's too late for that, you know. Once you're involved with us, you're involved," Gregory shrugged, kicking a rock. It landed in the middle of traffic. The cars just ran it over without a care in the world. Probably because the driver didn't see it, but still. Who runs over a rock?

"That's… nice," She said, giving him a weak smile, "Well I live far. Think you can handle it?"

"I've been through worse."

"I can only imagine. How'd you find me?"

On cue, he pulled out Physics for Entertainment from his inner pocket and smiled, "It belongs to the school, doesn't it?"


	6. Chapter 6 : Fatal Attraction

Short chapter! Sorry!  
Being loaded with homework and everything. =_=''  
I have an essay assignment coming up.. but I decided to write this up quickly for you guys.

* * *

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows, doth with their death bury their parents' strife."

"Sorry, Gregory, but… 'Romeo and Juliet' is overrated," Aiden snorted, waving her hand to excuse the recitation of Shakespeare's sonnet.

"His words are genius and amusing," Gregory childishly mimicked her annoyed tone and shook his head, "Wherefore art thou so incompetent?"

"Why am I so negative about the play? Well gee, I don't know— Maybe because I'm not too interested in stories that end in tragedy," She huffed, looking behind her back. A large truck was coming their way, so she pushed Gregory farther from the road. It zoomed passed them without faltering speed.

"It's not a tragedy," Gregory replied, pushing Aiden back onto the road once the truck was no longer seen, "It's a funny story about two idiots who fall in love."

"I have to agree with you that they're idiots, but," Aiden's shoulder shoved him back to his place, "It's not a love story."

"Well, fine," He admitted gruffly, "It's a funny story about two idiots who are infatuated with each other."

"Forget it," She groaned, smacking her forehead, "We'll just leave it at that then."

Right then, Aiden imagined a triumphant smirk on his face. He was enjoying this—he enjoyed bothering the hell out of her. Well, it didn't matter. She liked having conversations with him too.

"I apologize," Gregory said, though he didn't mean it. The words were strung in front of her face. He was toying with her, "My sister Anna is always reciting literary works of love."

"In love with love? Kids these days," Aiden snickered, though, she too was in love with love. Having only one boyfriend in her entire fifteen years of living, she was always quite the dreamer.

"O, then I have always seen Queen Mab hath being with her," Gregory rehearsed the lines, arranging the original dialogue around.

"She is the fairies' midwife, is she not?— And she comes, in a shape no bigger than the agate stone," She picked up from there.

"Yes… and on the forefinger of an alderman, drawn with a little team of little atomies over the mortal men's noses as they lie soundly asleep."

"Her wagon spokes are made of long spinners' legs— the cover, of wings of grasshoppers…" Aiden smiled. How wonderful it was to have someone understand Shakespearean dialogue with her! Nobody at school would ever stoop down to do something as nice as this with her.

She was grateful, for having to meet this brilliant boy.

"Aiden," Gregory hauled her from her thoughts. He cleared his voice awkwardly.

"Yeah?" She blinked, confused but curious.

"I was wondering if you'd… like to accompany me on a quick experiment," He said quickly, and probably anticipating fast answers too.

"What kind of experiment?"

"A physics experiment."

"Well," She was hesitant. It was getting darker by the minute, and she really needed to get home before her parents worried, "Sure…"

From the outline of his image, Aiden saw him waving his fist quietly with accomplishment. Whatever it was, this meant a lot to him.

"Alright," He said, sounding excited for the first time ever. Reaching out for her hand in the darkness, he pulled her back by the waist, reeling her into his chest. She felt an electrifying heat accelerating from her collarbone, traveling through her throat and up her cheeks. It absolutely stole her away.

And suddenly, they were defying gravity. Her loafers were no longer in contact with the ground. She felt nothing but the embrace.

"A-are we…"

"Yes. We're flying," He whispered excitedly.

Moonlight poured onto his pale face, illuminating his features… and the muzzle. The little creases at the end of his eyes curved upward as he showed her a small smile. Her heart began to flit at breakneck speed. Oh shit.

"Just hold on to me," Gregory hushed her. He knew there was uneasiness creeping to her.

It wasn't that she was afraid of heights.

It was because of the fact that his small smile… and his kind eyes… harmonized perfectly.


	7. Chapter 7 : The Spontaneous Romantic

I'm proud of myself for writing this chapter. :D  
Hope you will too!

* * *

The cold air brushed briskly against her bare knees, which were left uncovered with the pairing of her high socks and plaid uniform skirt. She looked down, secretly thankful that they were flying at night, knowing that nobody below would be able to see up her legs with the darkness of the evening.

"Aiden," Gregory said. He was only holding her by the hand, "Do you have a piece of parchment?"

Paper?.. Who needed paper when they were hovering fifty feet above ground? Besides, there wasn't a floating desk around to write an essay on anyhow.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Take it out!" He exclaimed excitedly. Blood rush.

"Alright then.."

Suddenly, he took her by the waist, and swooped slowly. Her throat was derived of any possible audio. It was impossible for her to make out any words with his hands on her. Without realizing that they had stopped moving, she tried to make any sense of her frantic thoughts.

"H-here!" She yelled, thrusting the paper and pencil onto Gregory's chest, hoping he would compliment her polka dotted mechanical pencil. Anyhow, he would have to take everything from here on. At the moment, she wasn't capable of doing anything right.

Quickly, he scribbled a sentence onto the notepad, his arm still snaked around her. He tossed the pencil aside, to lord knows where it may have landed. Aiden's eyes widened. That was her favorite! As she stood there, blubbering mindlessly and grieving, Gregory whipped out a rock from his inner pocket.

"I can prove science wrong," He said, wrapping the paper on the rock like so.

Aiden mumbled some nonsense some more. Gregory ignored it, and continued talking as if she wasn't talking like a babbling drooling two year old.

"We know what happens when a flying object drops something.. but what happens when a flying object stays in place?" He said quietly, looking down.

Three... Two.. One.

He gently let it go, watching the rock fall at rapid speed as if he hurled it down to crush the Earth.  
And for the first time of the night, Aiden looked down too.  
It landed right beneath them, demolishing the bird bath on the front lawn of Tony Thompson's house.

* * *

Dottie Thompson never expected too much from anyone. Being the housewife, she had always made the impossible miracles possible. Her busy husband was employed by one of Scotland's finest, Lord McAshton. Her adorable son was one of the sweetest anyone could have. What more could she ask for?

Today, the two most important people of her life were spending the day together. Bob took Tony to work, so that left her with all the chores to do on her own.

She stood quietly, washing the dishes as she started humming to the songs on the radio. The previous night, some rowdy teenagers smashed their bird bath to smithereens. She couldn't stay cross at them forever, but couldn't help but to feel angry. Besides, how else would you feel when a hundred and eighty three dollars have been destroyed into tiny pieces?  
The queerest thing happened, though. After a small investigation and some grieving, she found a note enveloping a rock as paper weight.

It read:  
"Warning: Ongoing Physics Experiment."

Kids these days.

The wind chimes at the front door whistled softly. Mrs. Thompson peeked out the window, leaning over on the sink- and caught a glimpse of a darkly dressed boy picking one of her flowers from the garden.

"Little brat!" She shouted, and then ducked right before the teenager spun around wearily. Mrs. Thompson sat, crouching on the floor, biting her yellow rubber gloves, hoping she didn't scare him off. Slyly, she elevated toward the window, hiding behind the blue curtains as she did so.

In his right arms, the boy had a wild assortment of red camellias and carnations, white daisies, the occasional gloxinia, and the drooping flower- lily of the valley.  
Her eyes were fixed on the stranger, confused. What the heck was he doing picking flowers? Shouldn't he be stomping on them? Eating them? Bashing her car with a bat?

She swooped down before he twisted his head to look at the window.  
Crawling toward her gardening cabinet next to the cleaning supplies drawer, she swiftly tugged the gloves off and hysterically began searching for extra seeds- just in case if he takes all her plants with him, she could still replant them before the winter season. Mrs. Thompson picked up a heavy book of Flower Meanings and tossed it aside while she was at it.

Lurking beneath the shadows, she peeped through the glass again.

Aiden the baby sitter was walking up her driveway. And she wasn't the only one who saw her also. The plant stealing teenager spotted her, and dove right into her hedges that she _just_ trimmed this morning!

Note to self: Re-trim hedges.

When Aiden reached their fence (Good god, that girl walks slow!), he jumped out and hissed. She stumbled backward, stunned. Poor child. However, they broke out into wonderful laughter. And he pulled her up by the hand, awkwardly shoving the whole bouquet into her face.

Her eyebrows shot up in sheer astonishment, but also great gratitude and.. a little hint of happiness. He smiled, whispered something inaudible, and walked off, patting her head. His other hand lingered around her shoulder for a moment before he finally cut off contact.  
She stood there motionless and sniffed the flowers.

Mrs. Thompson rushed to the front door, grabbing the Flowers Meaning book and her fabulous straw hat, but slowed her pace to make it seem like she just walked out casually.

"Oh, Aiden!" She exclaimed, looking up in the middle of turning the page from her book, faking her surprise, "What are you doing here?"

She broke into a grin.

"Top of the morning to you, Ms. Thompson," She said, bowing her head a bit, "I just wanted to know if you needed help with anything. I'm free for the whole week, so you know.."

Mrs. Thompson shook her head, staring absently at her.  
"I'm sorry dear, I don't but.. You seem to already have a handful," She noted, directing her gaze to the bouquet of _her_ flowers.

"O-Oh, yeah, um.."  
"Do you know that boy?" She asked, smiling.  
"Yes. I just met him a few days ago," Aiden said quietly, blushing. She couldn't take her eyes off the gloxinia.  
"What's his name?" Mrs. Thompson asked excitedly. She automatically forgave the thief, for this was an act of young love!

".. Gregory," Aiden smiled, "He's, um, the brother of Tony's friend? Rudolph?"  
"Ah! Well, the next time you babysit, you could bring him over," Mrs. Thompson winked.  
"... I-I have to!" Her eyes widened, panicked. And with that, she ran off with her bundle of flowers.

How cute. Mrs. Thompson stared down at her book, shaking her head.

"Oh, what's this?.." She mumbled, flipping through the pages. The pages were bent at the top corners, like someone had used them to go back for references.

_**Camellia**__ - You're the flame of my heart_

_**Carnation**__ - You fascinate me  
_

She flipped the pages some more.

_**Lily of the Valley**__ - You complete me _

_**Gloxinia**__ - Love at first sight_

_**Daffodil**__ - You're the only one_

_**Daisy**__ - But I'll never tell_

Lucky her. She got the romantic type. Mrs. Thompson smiled, closing the book and sighed.  
But wait..

Who was the one who marked those pages on her new book?


	8. Chapter 8 : Sugar Coats

WINTER BREAK! AHH!  
Finally, I found some time to sit down and type. :)  
Well. Thank you so much, for the support and the reviews!  
I truly appreciate it. They're the sole things that motivate me to write.

* * *

Honestly, Aiden had no personal intentions to follow Mr. Burgenstein around, really. Although he was under the possible suspicion of the theft of the peppermint candy canes at the Thompson's Christmas party last year, he was all-in-all a good man. However, Mrs. Burgenstein thought otherwise. They were a newly wed couple of five years. Anything could go wrong. Now under the suspicion of cheating, Aiden had to rearrange the empty time blocks of her Sunday schedule to fill in her orders to follow Mr. Burgenstein around the neighborhood.

So far, he had done nothing wrong at the Laundromat.

"So how long are we supposed to be here?" Gregory asked, taking a wide bite from his cream filled bread. They stopped by at the bakery just moments before. It was dusk, and although Gregory had just begun to tag along with Aiden, he was already getting weary of the job.

"I wonder how you do it," He said right after. He wasn't expecting an answer from her anyway. She was focused on the job: Spying on the man with her pair of high definition binoculars. You wouldn't believe how many orders she gets for stalking someone.

"It's a tough job," Gregory said aloud again, taking another vigorous bite from the goods. It was too sweet. It tasted funky. But he only ate because he was bored.

"Well someone has to do it," Aiden smirked as she watched Mr. Burgenstein chat with the young woman at the stop sign. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes as he said a (much too friendly) hello. Maybe he _has_ done something wrong before.

Gregory flopped on his front side, making a gap through the bushes. His eyebrows jumped up with amusement, "Hey, I think we got him."

"Jackpot!" Aiden gasped. Mr. Burgenstein began massaging the young lady's shoulders. She had a look of great satisfaction on her face. There was craftiness in Mr. Burgenstein's.

Gregory made a face and looked away, "Disgusting, despicable damn…"

Aiden ignored him and whipped out the stylish walkie-talkie Mrs. Burgenstein handed to her just this morning.  
"Whatcha-ma-callit to Snickers… Whatcha-ma-callit to Snickers… The jelly in the sandwich has oozed out! I repeat, the jelly in the sandwich has oozed out!— THIS. IS NOT. A DRILL."

"Snickers to whatcha-ma-callit… Disposal of jelly will begin in T-minus ten seconds… Thank you so much Aiden."

Gregory looked up and sighed. There they go again, talking nonsense. God, how he hated people.

"Busted," Aiden whispered, nudging him excitedly, "Look back at the intersection! You're going to miss it!"

He moved the branches out of the way, creating the peephole to spy once again. A slim pretty woman in a business suit appeared, whacking Mr. Burgenstein with her purse. The third woman stepped back in disbelief, and started yelling and pointing frantically. The caught criminal shielded his face with his arms, defending himself and claiming he had done nothing wrong.

"It's not my fault!" He managed to yell when there wasn't a fistful in his mouth, "Wedding rings are the world's tiniest handcuffs! You can't cage the lion, Miriam!"

"If they can do it in zoos, then I have no problem with you, Jacob!" Mrs. Burgenstein started weeping, but that didn't stop her from hitting him.

"Hm," Gregory watched the scene with great interest. The quarrel sparked his attention and ignited his curiosity. His eyes never left the fight, and it wasn't until when he bit down on the empty wrapper did he realize he had eaten all of his bread.

He looked down in surprise and then tugged at Aiden's jeans.

"Could we get more and then hurry back?" He whispered in a hush, pointing at the crumbs in his hands.

* * *

"Colloquy," Gregory turned his hand around for Aiden to look at the flash cards. He was only holding it with one hand; the other was stuffed into his pockets. It was a cold school night.

"Mmm.." Aiden rubbed her gloved palms together, hoping to gain some heat from the friction.

".. Colloquy," Gregory repeated himself again awkwardly, interfering with Aiden's deep thoughts. They were reviewing words from the SAT list. Although the actual test was years away from now, it didn't hurt to start practice early. So that was why Aiden's teachers decided to put up a final exam that imitated the actual SAT test. It would determine sixty percent of the final grades.

"I heard you the first time," Aiden scoffed, blowing into her hands. A visible puff of air evaporated from her hands and disappeared with the icy breeze.

"Truck," Gregory mumbled quietly, for the hundredth time that night. He lightly pushed her away from the road. Like all the others, it rushed passed them. The gigantic wheels rumbled as it drove into the foggy distance.

"Colloquy, colloquy…" Aiden whispered to herself, "Can you use it in a sentence?"

Gregory sighed, and kicked a rock into the murky darkness as they walked passed it.

"The itchy peasant Aiden asks the Great Gregarious King Gregory for the definition of the term colloquy," He replied nonchalantly, "… _You_ ought to know. You're the one studying for it. Good god, you don't expect me to know the words too, do you?"

"The definition's on the backside, genius," She laughed, and threw her head back.

"Ah," He said flatly, flipping the first flash card of the bulky stack to the opposing side, "Colloquy, to—"

"Don't tell me!" Aiden snapped, pushing him back on the road, "You aren't helping my situation!"

"Well, can you blame me?" He loudly complained, clenching the stack of cards in an angry motion, "I don't know what half these words mean!"

"I don't expect _you_ to know them, I expect _myself_ to!" Aiden plunged into a panic attack, head first. She began to rock her head from side to side, hands covering each ear.

"Well.. same here!" Gregory yelled back at her. They stopped walking now, and they were facing each other. If people could shove their worries into a hat, Aiden would be drowning from the overflow.

"Aiden, look," Gregory said quietly, patting her on the shoulder. He bent his knees a bit to make sure they saw the situation eye-to-eye, "You shan't stress about this too much.."

"You wouldn't understand," Aiden said.

"The way I see it, you have two more years of schooling left. One year can't hurt you, can it?" He said, trying to implant the logic into her deranged thinking.

"You wouldn't understand," She repeated. The seeds of Gregory's logic couldn't grow in this condition.

They stood there for about five minutes without saying anything. Gregory shuffled his feet uncomfortably as Aiden silently waited for something to happen. She wanted to say something, but there was nothing in the world she could say that could make the predicament any better.

"Alright then…" Gregory said quietly, handing the pack back to Aiden. He grabbed her arm, plopped the cards onto her unmoving palm and closed them. For a moment, he let his hands linger atop of hers.

"Well… You can do this on your own," He said, after he realized she wasn't going to say anything for the rest of the night, "I know you can. You're smart, Aiden."

Shit. Don't say it. Don't say it…

"I won't bother you anymore," Gregory began to mumble quietly now, "So when you're finished with your studies…"

Crap. He's saying it. He's saying it.  
Aiden's heart rate jumped up like it had a heavy dose of steroids for breakfast.  
They weren't even a couple, and yet…

"I wish the best for you," He continued, "I can't guarantee that you'll see me when you're done but…"

"Until then, I'll always be here to walk you home."

She wanted to scream:

I CAN'T DANCE.  
I CAN'T USE AN EYELASH CURLER.  
I CAN'T PLAY THE GODDAMN RECORDER BUT I CAN TALK TO YOU.

AND THAT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I'M LIVING IN HEAVEN ON EARTH.


	9. Chapter 9 : Dream a Little

Gregory sat on top of his makeshift coffin, frowning heavily as he wrote on the surface through the dust with his finger. It was only 4 PM. Needless to say, his family was asleep. It was still early for the lot of them. All teenagers, including vampires, instinctively stay up late—fully knowing that they will wake up feeling incredibly tired and grumpy.

He glanced at the old grandfather clock, impatiently watching the seconds tick by the thousandth time past the Roman numeral twelve. The minute hand refused to move. Aiden wasn't out until an hour more.

**"You like her."**

He felt a presence on his right shoulder, growing colder and colder. Apart from teenagers, there was another age group who also happen to have trouble sleeping— kids, ages three to ten. Long hair whisked against his face through the holes of his muzzle.

"Shut up," whispered Gregory, rolling his eyes, shoving Anna away from him.

"but you did not deny it!" she whispered back in a louder voice, lunging forward toward him as if there was a rope around her waist, and the other end tied to his wrist. Gregory grumbled and sat on the floor. Anna laid sprawled across the makeshift coffin with her arms and chin resting on his right shoulder in a dreamy fashion.

He sighed. Of course Anna would be interested to hear about his love life. It was, after all, nonexistent for as long as he was alive (which was, approximately, about three hundred years ago). She was a hopeless romantic, growing up reading love stories and being bewitched by their mother's endlessly over exaggerated saga of peril and affection and junk complete with dramatic hand movements.

"Why do you like her?"

Gregory could imagine her face at this instant. Her eyes, clouded with day dreams. Her head, tilted at about a forty degree angle, positive slope… Wait, he just used a math reference— Oh dear god. **Was he too obvious**?

Anna smiled and arched her neck out to bump her head against her brother's. He might be older, but he was much sillier.

"I like her because…" He furrowed his brows, "because…"

His sister retracted her neck and let it lean against his shoulder once more. This was going to be amusing. She was so curious to see what his answer would be. This is her brother, Gregory Sackville-bag— the one wearing a muzzle on his face because their parents were afraid he might bite someone, the one being treated more like the family dog than the oldest son, the one who never falls in love because he's too stubborn to.

"beeeecause?" She stretched out the word and closed her eyes, half expecting him not to finish his sentence and leave her question hanging amidst the crumbs of several others. She yawned, knowing he was determined to answer this one not for her, but for himself, and drifted off to a light slumber.

Half an hour passed, or maybe five minutes— time is irrelevant to the amount of sleep you get. She felt Gregory shift away from her head.

"I like her because she turns me into poetry," He said in a low voice. She heard him creep out the cellar door, his old boots creaking against the old wood and a cold breeze whistling outside.

So it's six o clock, she thought to herself.

* * *

Gregory crawled out of the cellar as quietly as he could to avoid waking up his family. Anna had fallen asleep on him, but he felt obliged to answer anyway. He left a lot of her questions ignored, but he felt as if this one would mean a lot to her if he filled in the blank. Besides, it wasn't for her enjoyment.. it was also for his own benefit.

Why did he like Miss Aiden Mills?  
He sat there pondering for what seemed like a few minutes, which apparently turned out to be sixty.

Aiden Mills.

She's the girl with the medium length and really dark brown hair. Petite and unathletic but otherwise stated, in pretty great shape. Rectangular framed glasses that captures her eyes that twinkle when she's happy, but takes them off every now and then because she feels uncomfortable in them. Wait. Her eyes… What color are they? Brown? Dark brown. They have to be dark brown… He made a mental reminder to check later.

There's that a wide smile she gives him when he says something witty, and her nose crinkles when she laughs that laugh she laughs. She covers her mouth whenever she tries to hold back a guffaw. His main goal is to make her do that as many times as possible. It makes him feel accomplished. So far, his personal score is fifty seven.

Oh anyway. She's smart, she's dedicated, and she's ambitious. She's practical and conservative. She thinks about the outside, inside, _and the outline_of the box. She's opened his mind to a whole new dimension of learning.

He's lived three decades. He's met hundreds of thousands of girls but there is absolutely nobody like this one… How about that?


End file.
